Ashes (The Slayer Chronicles Book 3)

by Val St. Crowe

  We headed downstairs.

  The parlor was empty.

  So was the dining room.

  Then I remembered Riley saying something about a breakfast room. We went looking for it, and found it mostly by following the scent of bacon and coffee. It was two doors down from the dining room, a much smaller room with a small-ish circular table in the middle of the room. There were chafer dishes set up on the buffet table at the end of the room. Naelen lifted the lids to reveal bacon in one, biscuits in another, eggs in a third, and sausage gravy in a fourth. There was also a carafe of coffee and some orange juice in an icebox.

  Next to the food was a note.

  Naelen picked it up. “It’s from Riley. He says that he’s getting a late start today but that we should eat and get going without him.” He picked up a plate.

  “Who made all this food?” I said.

  “The gargoyles?” said Naelen.

  “But they’re stone,” I said.

  “Maybe they made it right before dawn and left it here to keep warm,” he said.

  I considered. I guessed that was as likely as anything. I filled my plate with food and sat down at the table next to Naelen.

  He scooted his chair next to mine and leaned down to kiss my neck.

  I shoved him away, giggling.

  He laughed too. He snatched my chin and held my face in place while he kissed me again. “I don’t know what I was afraid of,” he whispered.

  “Hmm?” I said, brushing his hair away from his forehead.

  “I thought I’d lose control of myself if I let myself fall for you.”

  “Oh,” I said. I nodded. I remembered this. It was why he’d been horrible to me after we’d killed all those dragons in Colorado. “But you didn’t lose control?”

  “No, I did. I have,” he said. “I’m completely lost. But it feels amazing.”

  I giggled again.

  And then we were kissing again.

  I pulled away. “Listen, last night I couldn’t sleep, and so I went for a walk.”

  “Really? Why didn’t you wake me up?” He kissed me again.

  I shut my eyes, wrapping my arms around his neck. I deepened our kiss. We kissed for a long, long time.

  When we pulled away, I saw that Logan was standing in the doorway of the breakfast room.

  I felt a flash of shame go through me.

  Naelen grinned at him. “Morning.”

  Logan came into the room, moving a little stiffly. “Morning,” he said.

  I got up and went over to Logan. I kissed him.

  Logan pushed me away. He shook his head at me.

  I hung my head.

  We were all quiet.

  “There’s, um, there’s bacon,” I said.

  Logan went over to the chafing dishes. With his back to us, he said, “Did you go to her room last night?”

  “Does that matter?” said Naelen quietly.

  “If you did,” said Logan, dipping some eggs onto his plate, “then the minute you left the room, it became my night. Isn’t that the way the rules work?”

  I sat down to my breakfast. God, I hated this. I picked up a piece of bacon. My stomach was starting to churn, but surely I could keep down bacon.

  “Yeah, okay,” said Naelen. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t touch her.”

  Logan came over to the table and sat down. “Maybe it should.”

  “Come on, seriously?” said Naelen.

  Logan shrugged. He wouldn’t look at me. He started to attack his food with his fork.

  “All right, fine, whatever,” said Naelen. “She’s yours until tomorrow morning. Hands off for me.”

  “Wait,” I said. “What if I want to give both of you a kiss goodnight or something?”

  The guys’ eyes met for a second.

  “Maybe we should kind of keep the displays of affection to a minimum in front of the other guy,” Naelen finally said. “I don’t really like watching you kiss him.”

  “Ditto,” said Logan.

  I rubbed my forehead. “Okay, okay.” More rules, huh? How many rules were there going to be? Was this even working? Time to change the subject. “Look, like I was saying, I went on a walk last night.”

  “You left the manor?” said Logan.

  “No,” I said. “But I heard noises over my head, and I wondered if there was another level up there, and there is. It’s like an attic or something. But I couldn’t explore because Frederick the gargoyle showed up and told me to go back to bed and that part of the house was forbidden.”

  “You probably shouldn’t run around alone,” said Logan.

  “Yeah,” said Naelen. “Wake me up next time.”

  “I was fine,” I said. “Nothing happened. Anyway, the important thing is not that. I think I saw a painting of the cup.”

  “What?” said Logan.

  “Where?” said Naelen.

  * * *

  We crept up the stairwell all together, holding onto the walls for balance. It really was very steep and very narrow. “Okay, so it’s around the corner here,” I said. It was warm up here already, even though it was early morning. It was probably going to be another scorching, humid day. I really hoped we found the cup before bed that night. I’d be happy not to spend another night in this place.

  I went around the corner, and there was the tall window, now streaming in morning sunlight instead of moonlight. But the painting wasn’t there.

  “It’s gone,” I said.

  “The painting?” said Logan.

  “Yeah.” I pointed. “It was leaning against the wall right there.”

  “Well, maybe it’s somewhere nearby,” said Naelen. “Maybe Frederick moved it.”

  “Why would he care if I saw it?” I said. “You think he doesn’t want us to find the cup?”

  “I have no idea,” said Naelen. He pushed past me and started to walk deeper into the attic. There was a sort of corridor that we squeezed down. No painting anywhere down there. At the end of the corridor, there was a door. Locked.

  “Huh,” said Logan. “Well, that’s kind of odd. It doesn’t seem like they’d move the painting unless they wanted to hide it.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You know, Riley mentioned that the gargoyles made an offer on this house. How would they have enough money to buy it? I bet they don’t have great salaries here.”

  “A loan?” said Naelen.

  “And pay it back how?” I said. “They don’t have jobs once they own the place. Maybe they found the cup and they want to sell it in order to pay for the house.”

  “Is it worth that much?” said Logan.

  Naelen shrugged. “It’s worth whatever I’ll pay for it. And to keep it away from Cunningham, I’d pay a lot.”

  “So, what if they have another buyer?” I said. “We need to talk to them, tell them that we’d be willing to deal with them. Honestly, it would be better for you to give your money to the gargoyles anyway, Naelen.”

  “Sure,” said Logan, “so that they could own the symbol of oppression that kept them down for centuries.”

  “You don’t think they should own the house?” I said. “This is their home.”

  “This is their prison,” said Logan.

  I blinked.

  Logan shook his head. “You don’t get it at all, do you? Either of you.”

  Naelen and I exchanged a glance.

  “Maybe not,” said Naelen. “I come from privilege, and I admit it blinds me sometimes. But I’m willing to be educated.”

  I chewed on my lip. “I guess I see what you’re saying, Logan. But you can’t make that decision for them. I mean, they’re free, so if they want to stay here—”

  “Staying here means they’re not free,” said Logan.

  “Okay, from your point of view,” I said. “But you telling them where they should live is just as bad as the mage telling them where to live.”

  “No, it’s not,” said Logan. “I never owned them. I can’t believe you’re arguing with me about this. You’re h
uman, and you can fit in anywhere. You don’t walk in to some place and have people give you funny looks.”

  “What?” I said. “I do so. I carry a bow and arrows everywhere I go, and if you think that’s not the first thing people see—”

  “Clarke, it’s different,” said Naelen.

  “Maybe,” I said. “But he’s acting like I’m the enemy or something, and I have never thought less of him for being a gargoyle—”

  “That’s not what he’s saying,” said Naelen. “Stop being offended and taking it personally. He’s not talking about you. He’s talking about other people, and you’re not seeing his point of view at all.”

  I started to respond and then I stopped. I took a breath. “Am I doing that?”

  Logan shrugged. “A little maybe.” He turned, letting his shoulders sag. “But maybe I was being kind of rigid. You know, I don’t think about it a lot, where I came from, where my people came from. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t raised by my family, because I was in the system, and I was an orphan. I don’t know, but when I do think about it… I can’t even talk about how it makes me feel. It’s like this all-consuming rage.”

  “Yeah,” I said quietly.

  “Yeah,” said Naelen.

  Logan looked at us. “Sorry. Maybe I got carried away there.”

  “How could you not?” said Naelen. “I mean, how can anyone think about how absolutely horrible that whole section of history is without being overtaken by all-consuming rage?”

  “Simple,” said Logan. “Being angry about the past doesn’t change it. Nothing does. We need to find the cup and get the hell out of here before I lose it.”

  “Agreed,” said Naelen. “So, if that painting has something to do with it, I guess we need to find it. Should we ask Riley about it?”

  “If you think it would be okay to possibly block the gargoyles from getting money to buy the manor,” I said.

  “We don’t even know if the gargoyles need the cup to buy this place,” said Logan. “Think about it, they don’t really have bills. They live here, and they eat here. So any money they get, they could probably stockpile. Maybe they have enough to buy the house.”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  There was an echoing bang from outside.

  A gunshot?

  “What was that?” said Naelen.

  “Someone’s hunting?” I said.

  “What hunting season is in the summer?” said Logan.

  “Good point,” I said. We scrambled back down the steps.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  We met Riley on the staircase in the foyer. He was in his robe. He pointed through the huge set of windows across from the stairs. “The Brotherhood,” he said.

  “The human supremacists?” I said.

  We all looked out the windows. There were men on motorcycles swarming the house. Maybe twenty or thirty of them. They all seemed to be armed with shotguns.

  There was another loud bang and the front door splintered.

  Riley winced, sinking his hands into his hair. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had troubles with them. They’ve never liked that my family lived here. They think mages are traitors to the human race, dabbling in magic and all that.”

  “I’ve met members of the Brotherhood who did magic when it suited them,” I said, thinking of the time that Naelen and I were captured by a group of them. Naelen had been tortured. I’d only been able to get us out because I’d had an invisibility object.

  “I’d call the police, but they don’t care,” said Riley. “It’s a good old boy network down here, and most of the police think that any dead mage is a good mage. They don’t much care about the gargoyles either. Luckily, they’re stone right now, so they’re safe, but they’re also no help to us.”

  Another gunshot.

  “Let me get my bow and arrows,” I said, scrambling up the steps.

  “Wait, Clarke!” Naelen called after me.

  But I wasn’t listening. I hurried back to my room and grabbed them. I really needed to bring them with me everywhere from here on out.

  When I got back to the foyer, Riley and the guys were still the same place, but they were making gestures with their hands and pointing outside the window.

  “…water in the fountain?” Naelen was saying as I clambered down the steps.

  “Sure, it’s just turned off right now,” said Riley.

  “We have a plan?” I said.

  “You three don’t have to help me,” said Riley, looking around at us.

  “That’s what we do,” said Logan. He turned to me. “The plan is to get to the fountain. Naelen can shift. Hopefully a dragon will scare the hell out of them.”

  “They have guns,” I said. “They’ll shoot him.”

  “I’ve got magic in dragon form,” said Naelen.

  “Magic that stops bullets?”

  “Magic that rips guns out of their hands,” said Naelen.

  Okay, maybe he had a point. He was crazy powerful after all. And we couldn’t simply cower in the house while these men threatened from outside. We had to do something.

  “What can I do?” said Riley.

  “You do magic like your father did?” asked Logan.

  Riley shook his head. “Not really. But he left me these talismans.” He opened his robe. “Maybe you can use them? They were his most powerful.” The talismans were suspended on chains around his neck. He tugged them off and handed one to each of us.

  “Thank you,” said Logan. “Now, it’s probably best if you just stay out of sight and safe.”

  Naelen looked back and forth between Logan and me. “Ready?”

  “Let’s do it,” I nodded.

  We rushed down the steps, ran across the foyer and threw open the door.

  Immediately, we were greeted by the rattle of gunfire.

  We all fell flat on our bellies on the landing. The stone steps spilled out in front of us.

  I lifted my head, tugging out three arrows from my quiver. The members of the Brotherhood were staying fairly far back. They were milling around behind the fountain but spread out to face the house. There were maybe ten pointing their guns straight at us. I targeted those.

  I scrambled to my knees, notched the first arrow, and let it fly. Not waiting to see if it hit its target, I let loose two more.

  The first arrow slammed into the shoulder of one of the shooters. He toppled off his bike.

  The next arrow went wide.

  The third arrow punched into a man’s throat. He fell of his bike, clutching his wound.

  And I felt sick. I didn’t like killing. And these were humans. There was a functional law enforcement system to take care of human criminals. These men should be locked up, not killed.

  But they had come here, and they had started shooting at us. So—

  Bang.

  A bullet whistled through the air, not five inches from my face. Okay, right. No time to think about this.

  Logan and Naelen were already creeping down the stairs to the ground. I went after them.

  Naelen glanced over his shoulder at us. “I’m going to make a run for the fountain. Cover me.” He stood up.

  I grabbed three more arrows and stood up too.

  Logan grasped his talisman.

  Naelen started to sprint.

  I ran after him, getting off arrow after arrow, not waiting to see the damage I’d inflicted before sending off the next.

  Logan was clutching his talisman and using magic to rip guns out of the men’s hands.

  The Brotherhood revved the engines of their bikes and they charged us.

  Logan held out a hand and four of the motorcycles flipped over, dumping their riders off. “Nice,” he said. “This talisman is awesome.”

  But bullets were still coming for us. The men were shooting left and right.

  The fountain loomed ahead, still not close enough. Once we were there, we could take cover behind it.

  Suddenly, Naelen cried out. He fell down on one knee, clutching his thigh.<
br />
  I stopped shooting arrows and skidded down next to him. “Get up,” I said.

  There was blood seeping through his fingers. He gritted his teeth. “Damn, that hurts.”

  “They shot you?” I couldn’t believe it. It felt like we were in the middle of a war zone right now, with at least fifteen guys still brandishing their guns, ready to shoot, and it only made sense that one of us would get shot. But I felt like that shouldn’t happen, couldn’t happen.

  “Down!” he shrieked, shoving me.

  A bullet narrowly missed me, but it slammed into his rib cage. He doubled over, letting out a cry of pain.

  I screamed.

  Logan was there, throwing a strong arm around Naelen and lifting him. “Come on!” he yelled. “You need to shift.”

  Right, of course. Naelen just needed to shift into dragon form and then he’d be healed.

  Logan and Naelen took off for the fountain, Naelen limping along when he could and being dragged the rest of the time.

  I yanked out more arrows and sent them through the air. Now, I didn’t much care what I hit.

  But I didn’t kill anyone else.

  Another shoulder shot.

  An arrow in a knee.

  An arrow skimming past the top of a man’s head.

  I tugged out three more arrows. I sent those off too.

  One hit a motorcycle tire.

  One hit a man’s hand, knocking the gun out of it.

  One hit nothing at all.

  I looked for Logan and Naelen.

  They had reached the fountain, and Logan was dumping Naelen’s body into the water.

  Relieved, I ran with all my might, not bothering with more arrows. As I arrived at the fountain, crouching down behind the stone wall that contained the water, Naelen rose from the water in dragon form.

  The morning sunlight glinted against his emerald green scales. He unfurled his wings and soared for the sky, blowing out a string of fire in a long row against the Brotherhood.

  The remaining men squinted, some holding up their hands over their eyes to block out the sun and make out the dragon.

  I held my breath. Maybe they’d be so awed that they’d just pack up and go home.

  No such luck. They began to raise their guns, pointing them at Naelen.